History

From its founding in 1958, WERT (then owned by its founder The Van Wert Broadcasting Company) has traditionally been a middle of the road format and was also the founder of WMVR in Sidney in 1963 (currently owned by Dean Miller Broadcasting since its purchase in 1965.) Ray Livesay purchased the local AM/FM combo in 1971 and owned it throughout much of the 1970s and 80s. In 1994 Chris Roberts (previously with WOWO in Fort Wayne) purchased the local station.

Programming

WERT broadcasts the Timeless (formerly Stardust) format of soft oldies from ABC Radio. It is the heritage station serving the Van Wert area, and is co-owned with oldies/sports radio station WKSD 99.7 FM in Paulding (formerly WERT-FM; the original WERT-FM, at 98.9, is now WBYR serving the Fort Wayne market, and is no longer co-owned with WERT-AM).

A powerful windstorm powered by the remnants of Hurricane Ike caused damage to its transmitting tower on Sunday September 14, 2008. According to a WLIO-TV news story dated September 15,2008, engineers from the Fort Wayne area worked feverishly to bring the station back on the air. WERT continued to operate with reduced power by means of a temporary antenna and an internet audiostream unti Friday September 19,2008 when the new tower was erected and and returned to full power as reported by the Van Wert Independent newspaper.